Tubeless - how many fixes?

[Herbieuk]

I have 32mm Continental GP5000TL on Roval CX wheels on my Trek Domane. Over 3 months I've done 2000 miles with them running at 55PSI
This weekend I had a puncture in my rear tyre that needed a plug. The repair worked and I got home without issue. I've pumped the tyre up to 65PSi, left it overnight and it's sound.
This is the second plug in that tyre.
But it got me thinking, how many repairs should I live with? When do I replace the tyre?
With tubes I rarely, if ever, repaired a tube preferring to replace on the grounds it was more reliable and for a few £ what's the fuss. But with tyres at £50 it's a different calculation.
Purely for info. I only ride on surfaced roads. the punctures are small slivers of flint from the roads, I dig one or two of these out every week or so. With tubes if I went two weeks without a puncture it was cause for celebration!

[tlg]

I only ride on surfaced roads. the punctures are small slivers of flint from the roads, I dig one or two of these out every week or so.

Are you running sealant? Small flint slivers should seal right up and not need repair.

But it got me thinking, how many repairs should I live with?

Small flint slivers....infinite so long as the tire isn't compromised.
I use to patch tubes many times. Until the cut was too big to patch or the valve stem failed. Tires would be no different.

[Jay Strongbow]

One repair has no impact on another. Each individual repair is either a problem or it isn't.

[Herbieuk]

I use Stans Race sealant, about 40ml in each tyre. I think they don't seal as the flint is still in the tyre and I have to pick it out.

[Kerry Irons]

I have 32mm Continental GP5000TL on Roval CX wheels on my Trek Domane. Over 3 months I've done 2000 miles with them running at 55PSI
This weekend I had a puncture in my rear tyre that needed a plug. The repair worked and I got home without issue. I've pumped the tyre up to 65PSi, left it overnight and it's sound.
This is the second plug in that tyre.
But it got me thinking, how many repairs should I live with? When do I replace the tyre?
With tubes I rarely, if ever, repaired a tube preferring to replace on the grounds it was more reliable and for a few £ what's the fuss. But with tyres at £50 it's a different calculation.
Purely for info. I only ride on surfaced roads. the punctures are small slivers of flint from the roads, I dig one or two of these out every week or so. With tubes if I went two weeks without a puncture it was cause for celebration!

A puncture a week (or so) with a new tube after every flat seems like real money to me. A patched tube is a pretty reliable device in my experience. It sounds like you would get a LOT more flats from new punctures than from that very rare patch failure. There used to be a tire saver device that rode on the tire to flick off those little sharp objects before they had a chance to penetrate the tire. Something for you to consider.

[velodog]

A puncture a week (or so) with a new tube after every flat seems like real money to me. A patched tube is a pretty reliable device in my experience. It sounds like you would get a LOT more flats from new punctures than from that very rare patch failure. There used to be a tire saver device that rode on the tire to flick off those little sharp objects before they had a chance to penetrate the tire. Something for you to consider.

Here they are...

https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...c/tire-wipers/

[Srode]

I use Stans Race sealant, about 40ml in each tyre. I think they don't seal as the flint is still in the tyre and I have to pick it out.

I would suggest switching to Orange Seal - nobody I know uses Stans anymore.

[Fredrico]

I have 32mm Continental GP5000TL on Roval CX wheels on my Trek Domane. Over 3 months I've done 2000 miles with them running at 55PSI
This weekend I had a puncture in my rear tyre that needed a plug. The repair worked and I got home without issue. I've pumped the tyre up to 65PSi, left it overnight and it's sound.
This is the second plug in that tyre.
But it got me thinking, how many repairs should I live with? When do I replace the tyre?
With tubes I rarely, if ever, repaired a tube preferring to replace on the grounds it was more reliable and for a few £ what's the fuss. But with tyres at £50 it's a different calculation.
Purely for info. I only ride on surfaced roads. the punctures are small slivers of flint from the roads, I dig one or two of these out every week or so. With tubes if I went two weeks without a puncture it was cause for celebration!

If you're running 32mm tires, seems like you could find ones that handle the worst punishment gravel roads dish out.

Your tire looks like a racing tire with softer, grippier rubber that won't slide out in corners, but also picks up road debris that harder compounds would roll over. I've got 28mm Conti Gatorskins on the commuter and they've gotten no cuts over several years in the jungles of DC and NVA.

Previous tires would show cuts the first year. Then the rubber hardens up and they're more cut resistant. Lance said he aged tires a year and found the tread holds up longer and they pick up way less road debris. Rubber's the first line of defense.

Are you using the all season version? If so, surprised the flint pieces pierced through the kevlar. Then again, once the little sliver is stuck in the tread, it'll bite on each wheel revolution, sometimes taking days or weeks, and finally flat on a ride.

[4Crawler]

I would suggest switching to Orange Seal - nobody I know uses Stans anymore.

I've been really impressed with Orange Seal in my cross bike tires. Just did a front <-> back tire rotation and the rear tire that was only used with Orange Seal was amazing to see inside after 3 years riding, almost like it had a full inner tube:
https://youtu.be/L8E7k2Wao7Q

That said, I used Stans sealant for about 5 years with no real issues either. I did get a lot more buildup in the Stans sealed tires than I did in the Orange Seal tires.

[Kerry Irons]

Previous tires would show cuts the first year. Then the rubber hardens up and they're more cut resistant. Lance said he aged tires a year and found the tread holds up longer and they pick up way less road debris. Rubber's the first line of defense.

Aging tubular tires goes back many decades before "Lance." The reason is that many tubulars are "cold vulcanized" and so continue to cure after they are made. Nearly all clinchers are hot vulcanized and so are fully cured out of the mold. If a tire hardens in the first year, it is due to environmental factors like UV and ozone exposure. A Continental GP tire is not going to significantly harden unless there is pretty serious environmental exposure.

[Kerry Irons]

Here they are...

https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...c/tire-wipers/

I should have known that Jan Heine would have these. My previous searches for them used the term "tire savers" which is how they were marketed back in the 1970s but that only comes up with tire covers for your RV or camper. The technology of the Rene Herse tire wipers is essentially identical to what I used back in the 1970s. We were on a tour in England and the road aggregate was quartz (or something like it) that produced small glass flints as it degraded. Wet roads meant the flints stuck to your tires and flats were inevitable. The tire wipers solved the problem.

[Fredrico]

Aging tubular tires goes back many decades before "Lance." The reason is that many tubulars are "cold vulcanized" and so continue to cure after they are made. Nearly all clinchers are hot vulcanized and so are fully cured out of the mold. If a tire hardens in the first year, it is due to environmental factors like UV and ozone exposure. A Continental GP tire is not going to significantly harden unless there is pretty serious environmental exposure.

Good point about cold vulcanized vs hot vulcanized rubber. As late as the early 2000s, team Motorola apparently aged tires a year. Lance did, anyway, and you're right, probably on cold vulcanized tubulars.

My road riding over 35 years provided consistent evidence that regular touring/street tires actually do continue to get more resistance to smaller road debris and relatively sharp objects. Not much, but noticeable.

Motor vehicles would tamp down the sharp stuff into the seal on the farm to market roads in ETX, and if you stayed in the tire tracks, the road was nice and smooth. We avoided fresh chip and seal when possible.

Rubber compounds may have changed, but after the first year, all the clinchers I've ridden have picked up less cuts. That's just statistical evidence consistent on the rubber I've ridden, sorry. This doesn't include flint shards, those horrible burrs in the Texas panhandle, or carpet tacks.

I've also noticed brand new smooth tread road tires always seem to be grippier than older tires.

But what do I know? Riders tout that currently available slick tread road tires, like Continental GP, grip nicely and also last a long time.

OP has a problem with the GP5000s on the tarmac he's riding. The remedy is a more flat resistant tire. There surely are some good choices in 32 mm widths.

[JBarney]

I would suggest switching to Orange Seal - nobody I know uses Stans anymore.

Except for me...ha....It's never let me down in 4 years... Hopefully I didn't jinx myself.